Your rights when a repo man violates the law

mellokello · #1 10-14-2005, 05:19 PM

I was 11 days late on a car title loan which i have been paying on for a year totaling around 2200$ for a loan of 1200$ ..on a sunday night after 9 pm <lawfull?>i got a message from my previous landlord that a so called inspector so and so called and if i didnt call him i was going to jail<???> so i immediately called him and he told me he had to have my car or he was issueing a warrant for my arrest that night<??> he said i could give him directions and let him take it or go to jail and he would find it anyways and sell it the next morning<?>he said that they had no current information which the title place said yes they did,,he also said that i could go pay the payment the next morning which i planned on because i recieved a letter that frida saying i had two bussiness days to be in contact..and get my car back...he told me this twice..i watched for him and tried to go outside to inform him of a brake problem and he flew out of my driveway like he was sneaking it when i gave directions...the next morning i went to the place with my payment plus repo fee of 175$$ they said no its over now and stated they want 1600 dollars to get my car back...am i just screwed or do i have a leg to stand on here...im in georgia....please help....this is my only car and i have two small children....thank you

Mr. Knowitall · #2 10-14-2005, 06:57 PM

It sounds like the "inspector" may have broken the law when he contacted your landlord, told your landlord that you were going to be arrested, and threatened you with arrest. I suggest you contact a lawyer near you who handles consumer protection matters or collection / FDCPA actions. You may be able to find a lawyer through a state or local bar association lawyer referral service.

Beyond that, once the car is back with the lender, it is exceptionally unlikely that they would agree to return it until you satisfy your arrearages. (I can't tell if they are asking for you to do that, or if they are demanding a payoff. Either way, you breached the contract by being late with your payments, and they are probably within their rights to refuse to return the car.)

elorei · #3 09-01-2006, 10:06 AM

In Georgia, once a title loan company repo's your vehicle, they are going to expect full payment of the loan, not just a minimum payment, to give the car back. They are also allowed, under Gerorgia law, to charge you an additional $50 dollars as a repo fee, and charge you daily for storage. They can legally sell the car immediately once they have possession of it, but any amount made in the sale over and above what you owe is returned to you. If they wait 20 days, however, they can sell the car and keep 100% of the money made in the sale.

josephb · #4 10-05-2006, 11:03 AM

may i suggest, move to texas, it allowable to use deadly force to protect your propery, especially at night,

elorei · #5 10-10-2006, 09:42 AM

Quoting josephb

may i suggest, move to texas, it allowable to use deadly force to protect your propery, especially at night,

its not "your" property once you viloate the contract. be careful telling people to defend "their" property with force, our repo man has already sent 4 people to the morgue that fired on him.

GreatGadsby · #6 10-10-2006, 06:09 PM

it is still your property. the financer simply has a lien (a legal interest) on the property. the only thing that allows them to take it is the contract you have with them. it doesn't make the car theirs.

elorei · #7 10-11-2006, 08:27 AM

Quoting GreatGadsby

it is still your property. the financer simply has a lien (a legal interest) on the property. the only thing that allows them to take it is the contract you have with them. it doesn't make the car theirs.

In Georgia, if the loan is 60 days in default, I can repo without any intents sent, and can sell the vehicle or put the title in my name with a T-16 form that day. I'd pretty much say that makes it mine, not theirs.

That said, its not the point of my last post. Telling people to defend a car they have defaulted on with deadly force is ignorant, because every repo man i have met wears kevlar, carries a firearm, and is on the side of the law when he returns fire from someone "protecting their property".

Now, i can only speak for Florida and Georgia, maybe in Texas you are allowed to just blast away at anyone that comes onto your property for any reason whatsoever; but here in Georgia, if a repo man comes to take your car, and you shoot at him, not only will he shoot back, but he wont be charged criminally for it.

GreatGadsby · #8 10-11-2006, 03:47 PM

in Florida, state statute 493.6118(u)(9) prohibits a repo man from carrying a firearm (even if they have a CCW permit) while on private property to repo anything. not to mention that they're not allowed to breach the peace. so if he were to shoot back, that would tend to indicate he was breaking the law by even possessing a weapon at that time. might wanna tell your repo boys that! and I would love to know what legal standing you have to title someone's car in your name the same day you repo it.

elorei · #9 10-11-2006, 11:50 PM

Quoting GreatGadsby

and I would love to know what legal standing you have to title someone's car in your name the same day you repo it.

In Georgia, once the loan is 60 days late from the maturity date of the pawn, there is no grace period allowing the customer to reclaim their vehicle (so you can retitle the car the day you repo it). If repo'ed before that 60 days, you must hold the vehicle and allow them a chance to reclaim their vehicle if you plan to sell it (they have 30 days to reclaim the vehicle by paying all principal, interest, lien fees, storage fees, and repo fee.) Once a customer is 60 days late, however, the law considers the loan a full 30 days in default, with a full 30 days grace period. Here is a snippet:

(b)(1) There shall be a grace period on all pawn transactions. On pawn transactions involving motor vehicles or motor vehicle certificates of title, the grace period shall be 30 calendar days; on all other pawn transactions the grace period shall be ten calendar days. In the event that the last day of the grace period falls on a day in which the pawnbroker is not open for business, the grace period shall be extended through the first day following upon which the pawnbroker is open for business. The pawnbroker shall not sell the pledged goods during the grace period.

If you wanna dredge through the entire act, click http://wwww.legis.state.ga.us/legis/...text/hb675.htm

edit: As for our repo company breaking the law by carrying firearms, I guess that is entirely possible. However, John (my main contact with the company) has been shot now five times. He has returned fire on all five occasions, and has never been in court for any of these altercations, nor was he charged with anything. They are a fairly large company, operating in Fl, GA, and AL. We contract them out to repo for us, even though they charge $300 per car they pull (GA law only allows us to ask for $50 dollars from the customer for a repo, so it can be quite expensive to pull certain cars).

elorei · #10 10-12-2006, 08:47 AM

Sorry, replace "60 days late from the maturity date of the pawn" with "30 days late from the maturity date of the pawn", thus the 60 days total.

The legal document that *ALL* Georgia title pawns must use includes this line:
"Any personal property pledged to a pawnbroker within this state is subject to sale or disposal where there has been no payment made on the account for a period of 30 days past maturity date of the original contract, and no further notice is necessary."